Tyler Anglin used to tear around on two wheels as a kid.

Now he’s rolling with an open wheel.

Anglin grew up racing motocross on the West Coast, but when he moved to Ipswich at age 15, he left the dirt bike track behind.

The move was definitely a case study in culture shock, Anglin said. Even though he grew up visiting his dad’s family in the area, living in the Portland and Vancouver areas of Oregon and living in Ipswich, S.D. are not synonymous.

“I went from a class size of 500 to a class of 30,” he said. “You definitely had to be friendly with everyone.”

Still, he had a bit of racing left in his blood, so he would often find himself in the stands on Friday nights watching stock car races at Brown County Speedway.

“That looks pretty easy,” he thought at the time. “I want to give that a shot.”

As it turns out, turning laps on a ⅓-mile high-banked dirt track on four wheels isn’t quite as easy as it looks. Anglin started off in a “bomber,” better known as a Pure Stock, but the learning curve was steep.

Working in the pits for Kent Arment, Anglin found himself being talked into jumping up a few classes and landed a seat in a Super Stock before settling into the Modified division.

And that, it seems, is where he’s found his niche. Anglin won his first two career features last season and is sitting in fifth place in points to date this season.

After nearly a decade of racing, those wins felt particularly satisfying.

“That was the best feeling in the world,” Anglin said. “You get going that many years and think am I ever gonna win one. It’s fun at the end of the day, but everyone knows you’re going for the win.”

Anglin said there have been plenty of times over the past years when he’s felt like giving up, and not just on the one night of racing. 

“There’ve been times I thought maybe I should just get a boat,” he said.

But the close-knit atmosphere of the racing community just wouldn’t let him.

“You get down on your luck and think well we’re gonna load it up for the day,” he said. “Then five or 10 people walk up and offer you parts.”

It’s that sort of camaraderie that Anglin said he’s felt ever since pulling into the pits for the first time. That, plus the sweet taste of victory, have Anglin feeling comfortable where he’s at – behind the wheel of his No. 36 Modified.

“I’ve thought about the Late Model thing but I have a lot of fun with that open wheel,” he said. “It’s hard to explain. They drive a whole lot different. I’ve driven Kent’s late model before in testing, but I like that modified class.”

Anglin said his crew is generally just himself and his fiance, Brittany Eachen, plus a fellow racing buddy and occasionally his brother. His racing schedule includes regular appearances at Brown County and Miller with occasional stops in Watertown.

“I want to make my way out east a little more and hit up some of the tracks in Minnesota, I just haven’t yet,” he said.

Perhaps even more than he wants to succeed, Anglin said he wants the sport of racing to do well and hopes he can help inspire more people to get involved.

“You always have a group of friends and good people that want to see you succeed,” he said.